About reviews

Restaurants are rated on a five-star system by FLORIDA TODAY’s reviewers. The reviews are the opinion of the reviewer and take into account quality of the restaurant’s food, ambiance and service. Ratings reflect the quality of what a diner can reasonably expect to find. ★ Not recommended. Don’t bother. ★ ★ Fair. While there’s nothing special about this establishment, it will do in a pinch. ★ ★ ★ Good. A reasonably good place with food and service that satisfy. ★ ★ ★ ★ Very good. Worth going out of your way for. Food, atmosphere and service are routinely top notch. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Excellent. A rare establishment to which you’d be proud to take the most discerning diner. Each reviewer’s visit is unannounced and paid for by FLORIDA TODAY.

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If you’re going to have a neighborhood eatery-saloon, the first rule probably should be “be friendly.” The décor doesn’t have to be fancy, and who’s looking for haute cuisine?

Congeniality is job-one here, and Surf Dawg’s Grill & Brew Pub has it in waves.

It’s a little bar-restaurant that filled the place of a departed wings joint adjacent to Dunkin Donuts just off Wickham Road in Melbourne where the theme is surfing, the primary color is blue and it has Key West-style murals and clever, occasionally bawdy signs. Televisions are tuned to ESPN and the NFL Network.

Though it’s no microbrewery and it doesn’t seem to be a craft brew paradise, taps reveal a good variety of beers.

The menu is appropriate: appetizers; wings; entrees, four of which are seafood and the other two, chicken; “Dawgs,” deep-fried, quarter-pound hot dogs available three ways; burgers; “Shortboards,” or sliders; sandwiches; a couple of salads; and desserts. Surf Dawg’s also does a Sunday brunch and prime rib dinner every Friday evening, and it was a shame the latter wasn’t on the website, or we would have tried it.

On this visit, we went for the basics, as suggested by longtime Dawgs-goers: fried mushrooms ($4.95), a cheeseburger ($8.95) and a cheese steak ($8.95.

The mushrooms were excellent, possibly the best in the area. They’re beer-battered, but not too much, and so they come out crisp and hot and not oil-sodden, served with a fine Cajun sauce that is not over-the-top spicy. The order contained more than enough giant mushrooms for two, but if you go, get a double serving. They’re that good.

So were the fries, which were sizzling hot, crisp and nicely seasoned. This is what a restaurant can do when it slices and fries its own potatoes, friends. They and the mushrooms alone are worth the visit, although you’ll wait a fair amount of time for your food, if it’s not off the “express” menu.

The burger was among the better ones we’ve had recently: probably a half-pound of good ground beef, hand made, grilled precisely as ordered (medium-rare) and served with cheddar on a toasted, cornmeal-dusted kaiser-style roll with lettuce and tomato. It’s not cooked over charcoal or wood, but it deserves a try. This is a good, solid burger.

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The cheese steak gets points because nowhere in the description was the word “Philadelphia” or derivatives thereof. It isn’t that kind of sandwich, though the thinly shaved meat would have passed the test at any Philly cheesesteak joint. Over that went provolone and onions, and it was served on a big, soft, hot dog-style roll.

Philly cheesesteaks really aren’t that difficult: mounds of grilled ribeye beef, lots of cheese (preferably Wiz, provolone or Cooper white), caramelized vegetables and Amoroso-type Italian rolls. If you can’t get the latter, try what’s available at Publix, as anything else is off-putting, even if “Philly” is not attached. Otherwise, as it didn’t say “Philly,” one supposes there should have been no expectation that the cheese should have been incorporated into the meat, as happens when you use lots of it, on the roll and again on top of the sizzling meat, so it melts both ways.

So it wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t a Philly cheesesteak.

The food we ordered was too much to allow for dessert. Choices, however, include a deep-fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich ($4.95) as well as a chocolate peanut butter pie, which we’ve sampled and is delicious.